


Protect Our Own

by flightinflame



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Adoption, Also a kitten, Bart is a small murder child, Cinnamon Roll Dirk Gently, Dirk Gently Needs a Hug, Families of Choice, Fluff, Gen, Human Experimentation, Implied/Referenced Murder, Kid Fic, Mona is a sweetheart, Post-Project Blackwing (Dirk Gently), Priest and Martin are Brothers, Priest is His Own Warning, Rowdy 3 Van
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24456355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: Martin doesn't like feeding on the kids his brother brings, but if it's that or letting Vogel starve - well. The Rowdies come first. And then the breakout happens, and he realises that he can't leave behind children who need help, even if that means he'll have to change his views on who his family is, and what matters.
Relationships: Bart Curlish & The Rowdy 3, Dirk Gently & Mona Wilder, Dirk Gently & The Rowdy 3, The Rowdy 3 & Vogel, The Rowdy 3 - Relationship
Comments: 39
Kudos: 103
Collections: DGHDA Beginner Bang 2020





	Protect Our Own

**Author's Note:**

> So thank you to the amazing [Hellz aka Don't-offend-the-bees](https://dont-offend-the-bees.tumblr.com/) for both running the event and being my amazing artist and beta. Their stunning artwork can be found [here](https://dont-offend-the-bees.tumblr.com/post/619549859237724161/beginner-bang-time-again-and-man-i-had-fun-with). This has been a delight, and I'm so grateful to all their help. Thank you also Triffidsandcuckoos for listening to me ramble and encouraging me with this.

Vogel was growing restless, his little hands flapping at his sides. Martin tried to ignore the concern that gnawed within him at seeing the boy. They hadn’t been fed for a few days, and Vogel was alternating between sitting quietly, and flapping and bouncing around the room. Neither of those was good.

When Vogel had been fed, when he was happy, he would talk and climb and play, but he wasn’t uncontrollable. He wasn’t afraid, either, not in the same way he was right now. Martin knew that Vogel would be burning calories he couldn’t afford to waste, knew that if he asked Gripps would be able to tell him exactly how many calories the boy was using up.

He didn’t ask. 

The rate at which a child was starving to death was just one of those facts you’d rather not know, if you could possibly avoid it. Martin wanted to pretend the kid was fine, for a little longer, even though his face had taken on a grey tinge, even though there were the dark lines they all suffered from when things got bad. 

Vogel was small. That meant any hunger they faced hit him worse. Martin would have been happy to share what little energy he had with the boy, if that was possible. But it wasn’t. Their power didn’t work that way.

Martin remembered watching a nature documentary when he’d been a kid, hearing that vampire bats would share their food so that no one starved. He remembered liking the idea, back then. Now, despite all the times the researchers called them vampires, he couldn’t manage that. He couldn’t help, and Vogel was struggling.

“Guys?” Vogel called out, his accent far softer now. They’d taught him to speak, made him one of them. “‘M hungry.”

“I know,” Martin agreed, as Cross made a soft noise of agreement from his bed. Martin sighed.

“Come here kid.”

Vogel walked over trustingly, and Martin waited until he was within touching distance before he pounced, reaching out to tickle the boy. It took only a moment to have an affect, Vogel squealing and laughing and squirming on the ground, hunger forgotten for a few more moments.

It wouldn’t last, but it distracted him for a few minutes, and then he was curling up against Martin, and seemed to relax. Martin patted his hair, trying to hum a lullaby, a comforting tune that hadn’t been a part of his childhood.

It didn't take long for Vogel to doze off, curled against Martin's chest in the trusting way that children slept. He cradled him, waiting. He didn't sleep. He didn't want to waste any time he had left with the guys.

When a boy was shoved into the room, full of energy and fear, curling up against the wall, Martin shook Vogel awake.

"Food," he muttered, hating himself because the boy flinched, stumbling backwards away from them, his hands raised. He hated killing, hated killing kids worst of all. But this boy wasn't one of theirs. Wasn't "Incubus", or whatever name the scientists were inflicting on them. The kid didn't matter.

Vogel's eyes opened, and he looked up, hopeful, then frowned when he saw the boy cowering in the doorway.  
"Him?"

"Come on, baby bird." Martin muttered, and he waited until Vogel opened his mouth, the blue light streaming. He could see the others waiting, and he counted down with his fingers, giving Vogel a few more seconds before he nodded, opening his own mouth to feed.

The boy was terrified but he was small, and he didn't have an endless amount of energy. It tasted good but it couldn't fill them. There was enough to take the very edge off their hunger, but as he collapsed to the floor, his breaths shallow and shaky, eyes fluttering - no energy left at all, and Martin still felt hunger gnawing.

"Incubus one, remove the leftovers to the doorway," Osmund's voice snarled through the comm, and Martin obeyed. The boy was still breathing, but it probably wouldn't last. The lights were turned off, leaving the four of them in the dark.

"That boy was scared," Vogel said softly. "Why do they give us children?"

"Don't worry about it, Vogel. What matters is we're... we're Rowdies, remember?" It was a dumb nickname, but it made Vogel happy, and so he'd use it every day he could.

Vogel nodded, and Martin gave him a tight hug.  
"Rowdies look after each other, okay, baby bird? Rowdies support each other. No matter what."

Vogel looked up at him with trust in those soft brown eyes, and Martin faked a smile.

Vogel smiled back.

***

There were sirens, blaring in the darkness. They weren't the normal sirens.

This was something new.

The boy had been returned, a few times over the past week. Always afraid, always silent, and they ate and ate and Martin couldn't allow himself to see the boy as a child. Couldn't think about the child being afraid because he was being hurt, because their child needed to eat as well. 

Vogel had gained strength, could run around more, and that was enough to convince Martin what they were doing was right.

But the sirens were blaring, and he could hear noise outside. Vogel clung to Gripps, trembling, as outside guards shouted and shots were fired. Martin waited, listening.

He frowned, trying to work out what was happening in the corridor outside. There was chaos, he could hear that. Guns were fired, the noises echoing again, and there was screaming. 

Vogel whimpered softly, and Gripps released him, letting him race over to Martin. Martin picked him up, cradling the little boy against his chest. There was a pause as Vogel's little hands fisted against his jumpsuit, and he rocked the little boy close to him.

"Smells of fear." Cross snarled, leaning towards the door, trying to scent what was going on, to inhale the air.

"Stay back." Martin called out as he heard someone approaching. It didn't take long for them to reach the door. He heard the lock click, and it swung open.

Martin was ready for a fight, an armed guard come to put them down when things had gone south. Oz had threatened it often enough, if everything were to go wrong, they'd be killed like common dogs. 

He hadn't expected the little girl that was stood there, in a jumpsuit of her own. Red curls hung about her face, stained with blood, and she was smiling up at him. She had to be maybe a year or two older than Vogel at most, and the outfit made it clear she was another of Blackwing's subjects.

"Hey there, sweetheart." He grinned at her, taking another step forwards. She'd be food, if they needed it, but because they'd eaten recently, he didn't feel too hungry. The child was on her own, and she must have been afraid. "You get out? You can hide in here with us if you want?"

"I don't need to hide. They need to hide from me." She giggled to herself. "I let you out. Because it's time for us to go now. We don't need to stay here any more, it's not a good time for us to be here now. We're meant to go and do other things than be here. And it's time for you to leave as well." The little girl said, her smile widening brightly. She offered a broad grin to him, holding out her hand.

"Time to leave, huh?" He asked.

"Want out," Cross muttered.

"Been here for seventy one thousand, eight hundred and thirty two hours.” Gripps agreed. “That's four million, three hundred and nine thousand, nine hundred and twenty minutes. Or two hundred and fifty eight million, five hundred and ninety five thousand, two hundred seconds. But it would be more now. Saying that took twenty five seconds so it'd be two hundred and fifty eight million, five hundred and ninety five thousand, two hundred and twenty five seconds. Only it's been more now-"

"You're weird." The strange bloody haired little girl said, her hair bouncing as she stepped away again.

Martin turned to Cross and Gripps. They looked at each other, then back at him, waiting for judgement. He nodded, and they whooped in delight, before the four of them followed the girl out into the corridor.

Vogel squirmed in his arms, whimpering a little nervously, so Martin made soft shushing noises. Vogel clung for a moment, then wriggled down so that he had his feet on the ground, walking with his hand fisted tightly in Martin's jumpsuit.

The girl wandered on, pausing to pick up a knife which she cleaned off on her jumpsuit. Martin looked at the others, glancing towards the green lights that signalled where the exit was.

"We can go."

"We can't leave her." Cross pointed out, and after a moment Martin nodded. He didn't like the idea of leaving a bloodstained child behind, even if he was concerned about the fact she was bloodstained. Her jumpsuit meant she was an experiment. He didn't want to let Blackwing find her.

"Sure thing." He walked over to her. "Come on. Come with us." 

There was a moment when he thought she'd say no, her hand gripping the handle of her knife, but then she relaxed and nodded. He picked her up, and they started to walk.

"Not that way." The girl said quietly. "That's the wrong way."

"Okay," Martin shrugged. She seemed to know where they were going - at least, she'd found them, and that was a positive sign. He let her lead the way, walking with her along the corridor.

There was a whimper, and the door of a room ahead slammed closed.

It was Cross who stepped forwards, and pushed open the door. The boy who was used for food - who survived being fed on - was curled up in the corner of the room, his knees drawn up to his chest, whimpering quietly to himself. He was shaking, and he looked pale and hungry.

"Come on," Cross offered his hand. "You ain't safe here."

"You're not safe either-" the boy mumbled, and Gripps approached him.

"You need to come out of here. We don't need to feed for another few days and by then we should have been able to travel to the nearest population centre which should contain at least five thousand, six hundred people. We can eat from one of them." Gripps explained, clearly making an effort to be comprehensible to the boy. There was a pause, but he stepped out from the shadows, and Gripps grabbed him. 

The six of them hurried along, the girl calling out directions. Martin was pretty sure she had no idea where they were going, but also she was getting them to the right place, so he couldn't really complain. 

They turned another corner, towards a staircase, when Cross yelped. Martin spun, ready to fight an attacker, and found Cross stood with a tortoiseshell kitten held up against his chest, his fingertips brushing through the fur.  
"She jumped at me. She can be our good luck charm."

"Kätzchen!" Vogel squeaked.

"Yup, that's a kitten alright." Martin agreed, leading the way, the girl cuddled up to his chest. 

Gunfire echoed in the corridor behind them, and the boy whimpered to himself. Gripps raced forwards, bullets clattering to the floor behind him. Vogel ran with Cross and the kitten, and Martin hurried on cuddling the new girl, because she'd found the way out.

They crashed through into daylight, and fresh air filled Martin's lungs. After so long in the cold basement levels, the hot desert air was a shock. He looked around - the base seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, just flat rock stretching out before them. He groaned.

Cross had transferred the kitten to his shoulder, jamming the door behind him to stop the people who had been chasing them. The door was rattling.

They had to get out and fast.

Martin looked around.

"The fourth van's unlocked." The boy whispered.

That was ridiculous. There was no way the boy could know that, even if it was true, and no way that it would be true.

There was another rattle of the door, and Martin knew it wouldn't hold for long. He raced forwards to the fourth van.

It was unlocked, with keys in the ignition. The tank indicator showed it was full of petrol.

"Get in here!" He shouted, clambering into the driver's seat, shoving the girl in beside him. The van flickered to life before he'd even touched the keys, which was weird. But he wasn't about to query that now. The back of the van opened, and the others clambered inside, closing the doors. Martin slammed his foot on the accelerator, and the van roared, rushing from the base, as eager to leave that hell behind as they were.

For a while, he just drove, glancing in the mirrors, expecting at any moment to find he was being pursued. He waited for men with guns to catch up. But they kept moving, and no one was reaching them. He paused, glancing back in the van.

The boy that was food for them was curled up beneath a pale blue blanket, patterned with stars, his fingers tracing them for reassurance. The girl had sat near him, passing her knife from hand to hand, as Vogel watched her. Cross and Gripps were staring.

"Where'd that damn cat go?"

The boy wordlessly pointed at the blanket that was wrapped around his shoulders.

"That's a blanket." Martin pointed out. 

The boy responded by hiding fully beneath the blanket. 

Martin wondered if they'd made the right decision, taking the boy away from Blackwing. He thought they must have done - he had not been safe there, they'd regularly handed him over to a load of psychic vampires to feed on him. Of course, as Martin was one of the psychic vampires in question, he couldn't be sure his presence was actually an improvement, but he decided to assume it was.

He turned his attention back to the road. It was strange - all the time he'd turned, he was sure that the van knew which way it was going, and the answer was as far from Blackwing as they could get.

"You guys get some rest back there," he instructed, and he drove on. The back of the van was pretty quiet, so they carried on together in silence.

"Hey?" Cross called out. "We're going to need to stop at some point."

"Yeah? I can pull over?"

"Not for that." Cross answered. "These kids are gonna need food."

"I would estimate that they require around one thousand six hundred calories a day each." Gripps supplied helpfully, and Martin nodded. Okay. Yeah. Two kids that ate food, and a whatever the fuck the kitten-blanket was. That was stupid. Kittens didn't turn into blankets. He glanced back again, and found that the boy was now cuddling a teddy bear.

Thinking a lot of rather angry swear words, Martin drove onward.

They found a gas station after another hour. Martin parked up, and checked - their van was still saying it was full of gas. 

Trying not to think that through too much, Martin made his way around the car, climbing into the back and smiling at the kids.   
"What are your names?"

"Bart." The girl grinned toothily.

There was silence from the boy, and Vogel leaned over to prod him with a fingertip. He whined faintly, before he cleared his throat and began to speak.  
"'mdirknotsvlad. 'smona."

"Oh?" Martin asked, trying to be gentle with the kid.

"I'm Dirk. They call me Svlad, but I don't like it." He licked his lips, fingers curled tightly around the arms of his bear. "And that's Mona."

"Okay," Martin stared. "We can call you Dirk if you like, if you say Dirk's your name, then it's your name. That's fine. So is Mona ... one of the test subjects too?"

"She's an actor. We don't like tests." Dirk answered, rocking the bear in his arms.

"No one's going to test you now. Hello Mona."

The bear didn't say anything, and Martin wondered if he was losing it. But the boy was his responsibility, and so was the kitten-blanket-bear, so they could humour him for now.   
"An actor huh? She's good." 

"She's great." The boy, Dirk, answered all seriously. "She is my best friend ever." He looked down, patting the teddy bear, and after a moment it became a small puppy, which bounced from foot to foot, and tried to lick Dirk's face. 

Dirk sighed, but hugged her again.

"You gonna throw us out, Mister?" Bart asked, eyes wide.

"No." Martin was firm. "You can stay here as long as you need, both of you. You're welcome here."

"Are you gonna eat us?" Dirk asked, wrapped around his puppy.

"No, we're not." Martin answered. "Come on, while you're here we might as well make use of the restroom and stuff."

Bart skipped off out of the car, wandering away on her own. Martin let her, because she presumably wanted to go to the ladies, and he wasn't going to go in there.

He took Dirk and Vogel to the men's restroom, encouraging them to wash their hands. The two of them walked back with him.

There was a sudden scream, and Martin re-evaluated his policy of not going into the women's lavatories. He grabbed a pipe, and rushed in, Cross and Gripps at his heels.

Bart was hiding under one of the sinks, curled up with her knees against her chest, as a man was shouting at her. She whimpered again, and Martin struck, hitting out with his pipe and then feasting, feeling streams of blue light against his own as Cross and Gripps fed as well, all three of them gorging themselves on the man. It didn't take long for him to fall down, dead.

Martin offered Bart his hand, and she clambered to her feet.  
"Thank you."

"It's okay. You've still got some blood in your hair, let's neaten that up..." Martin explained, using the sink to dampen the sleeve of his jumpsuit. She wriggled slightly, but let him clean her up.

"What happened there, kiddo?"

"What was meant to." She blinked at them. "I'm a holistic assassin. I kill people the universe wants dead. Blackwing... want me to kill people for them but I don't like it. Apart from Mister Priest, he's nice, he lets me kill who I want."

Martin didn't say anything about Oz there, not wanting to think about his brother encouraging this tiny child to murder. Instead, he frowned.  
"You didn't manage to kill that one."

"He's dead, ain't he?" She asked, kicking at the body with one foot, as she held onto Martin's hand. "I was meant to kill him, and now he's dead. Sometimes I stab people, or shoot them, there was lots of stabbing when it was time to leave Blackwing. But sometimes I knock things and people fall over, or they get hit by cars. Or people come and kill them for me, like you did. Thank you for killing him for me."

Martin stared down at the girl, and wondered if she could possibly be right. It seemed impossible. It was impossible.

He and the rest of his group fed off human life force. There was a blanket-puppy in the van that was apparently a child called 'Mona', and Oz could track down anyone he wanted. They were all impossible. If this girl said she was a murderer, well he couldn't say she was wrong.

Although that did leave one major question. What the fuck could Dirk do.

He pushed those thoughts aside, looking down at Bart.   
"Come on. You stick with us, okay, and we'll kill anyone that tries to hurt you." He didn't like the idea of a kid this small being used for killing monsters. But if she was gonna do it either way, she might as well do it with his support and protection.

She grinned up at him, and followed him back to the van.

Martin checked they were all there, then drove on fast, not wanting to get linked to the dead body they left behind.

It was getting dark, and Martin hoped they'd put enough distance between themselves and Blackwing's labs to reduce the danger, at least a little bit. They needed to rest. They couldn't run forever, even if they wanted to.

"We better stop for the night. Gripps, you okay with making sure they eat enough, you know what they need better than I do." He pulled over off the road, at least to work out what was happening about feeding the kids. He thought this place looked good, sheltered and unobtrusive, but they had to check.

"Yeah." Gripps agreed, reaching out to pat the teddy bear Dirk was holding. "I don't know what this one needs though."

"I can ask her to be human-shape?" Dirk said quietly. "But you can't make her stay human shaped, okay? She doesn't like it. It feels all itchy and wriggly, like when you're in wrong clothes. And the scientists make her stay human shape lots. But she won't, and if she gets too sad she'll just be a chair for-ever." The last word was dragged out, in a sing song - like a child playing, rather than something more serious.

"Okay. Well, if she can be human shape that'd be good." Martin answered, as Vogel patted at the teddy. "Or like, let us know if we should grab dog food or whatever."

Dirk nodded, eyeing Vogel with obvious distrust, but letting him pet the teddy bear a couple of times. Then he moved away, cuddling the bear, and lifting it so it was at his eye level.

"Mona, I need you to be human shape for a little while, just so that we can have some food, is that okay?"

There was a moment's pause, and then a little girl stood there in a grey jumpsuit. She stared at them with wide eyes half-hidden behind dark hair. Martin thought she looked like she'd escaped from a horror film, but he didn't say that out loud. 

Dirk looked back at her, and then Mona leaned forwards and cuddled him.  
"Thank you for taking me with you when you ran away from the bad place."

He squeezed her hands, then looked towards them. "These... You can't eat her. This is Mona."

Fuck. Martin realised that the kid had been with them all day, and they hadn't given their names They'd messed up there.  
"I'm Martin. This is Cross, Gripps, Vogel. It's good to meet you, Mona."

"It's good to meet you too," Mona said, mostly to herself. She spun slightly as she spoke, rocking back and forth and twirling on the spot.   
"Do I have to wear this?" she asked quietly.

"You wear whatever you want, kiddo." Martin reassured her. She blinked up at him, dark eyelashes fluttering, and a moment later she was wearing a frilly white nightdress. She was still holding tightly to Dirk, who let her swing his hand as she moved. She nodded slowly.  
"Food?"

"Yeah." Martin glanced over towards Gripps. "Can you give these kids some stuff to eat? I don't want them to start devouring us."

"You ate me," Dirk objected, his slender arms crossed across his chest. Martin sighed. The kid looked part starved, so it wasn't just the Rowdies that Blackwing had kept hungry. It wasn't right. The kids didn't deserve to be hurt, just because they were freaks.

"Yeah. Well, I was hungry. Ain't gonna eat you now." Martin answered. Bart fell quickly onto the food she was provided with, tearing into it like a wild animal, while Mona looked at hers contemplatively, as though trying to remember how she was meant to eat.

"You okay there, Mona?"

Martin frowned, and she paused, looking towards him.  
"I can have this, but... tomorrow can I be one of those sunflowers on your dashboard? The ones that do this-" she flapped her arms from side to side "Then I can eat some sunlight. That would be fun." 

"Yeah. Uh, sure, kid, you can do that if you want." It probably wasn't the weirdest thing he'd ever been asked, but it was pretty close to it.

Still, he wasn't gonna tell the kid how to live her life. That wasn't what being a Rowdy was about, and if it helped her to eat sunlight, or whatever she wanted, he wasn't gonna tell her not. 

Mona nodded, smiling up at him trustingly, and taking a bite of her food. Dirk moved to sit beside her, reaching for her hand. She reached out to him, looking up at him quietly, all dark sincere eyes. Both of them looked like they could have escaped from a horror movie, but that was fine, he was getting used to it. It wasn't their fault they were freaks.

Martin decided they'd have to ditch the jumpsuits tomorrow. It was all too obvious, and made them too identifiable. Splitting up might have helped that, but he wasn't going to do it - he refused to leave the rest of the Rowdies behind. Weren't no point in escaping if you couldn't protect what was yours.

The kids that needed human food finished eating, and Mona turned back into a little tabby kitten. She padded up onto Dirk's lap, trying to climb up on him. He let her, lifting her up onto his shoulder. 

Satisfied with her new high vantage point, she nuzzled her face against his throat, letting out a soft purr of contentment. Dirk's lips twitched slightly, into something close to a smile, a welcome change to his earlier terror. Martin didn't comment on that, not wanting to spook him. After a few moments, Mona turned into a teddy bear.

"She's tired." Dirk said certainly, as though he was able to read her mind or something. Hell, it wouldn't be impossible. Martin nodded.   
"Do you want to get some rest?"

"Not yet." Bart said quietly. "It's... it's not a universe thing. It's a me thing, but can I... can I go and run around, please?" She looked outside, her eyes wide and sad.

"Yeah, sure thing." Martin nodded, relieved he wasn't about to be faced with another dead body. If he had been, he'd have dealt with it, because the kid deserved support, but it sure was a relief not to worry about that. She skipped out onto the ground, spinning around in little circles.

It was only a couple of seconds before Vogel joined her, the two of them grabbing each other's hands and pulling each other into tight circles, spinning faster and faster and laughing and shouting as they went.

Dirk watched them nervously, the Mona-bear cuddled up against his chest.  
"Go and play, if you wanna." Martin instructed, giving him a soft push on the shoulder.

"I don't wanna leave Mona."

"I can hold her." Cross offered. "I'll sit here and hug her 'til you come back."

Dirk nodded, pressing a little kiss to the bear's forehead and then passing her over. Cross held her carefully against his chest, a look of concentration on his face, as though this was the most important task he could possibly have been entrusted with. Seemingly satisfied by Cross's actions, Dirk swung out of the van and raced over to the other two, going to join in their games.

Martin watched them play for a little while, seeing how much happier and younger Dirk looked as he played with other children, fear seeming to disappear. He was laughing and playing tag with Vogel, and Martin grinned. It was good, seeing the kids playing. Hadn't been enough of that before.

He walked over to pick them up, sweeping Bart and Dirk up into his arms. Gripps raced out and grabbed Vogel before he got distracted and wandered off, all of them heading back to the van.

Cross handed Mona back over to Dirk with a smile, and after a few seconds Dirk seemed to relax, nodding to himself.  
"Thank you for looking after her."

"You kids better get some sleep," Martin said gruffly, not wanting to overly think how sweet Dirk was, how they'd hurt him by feeding before.

"You... you won't drive off and leave us, will you?" Dirk asked, and there was pain in his eyes, as though he really did believe that was a risk.

"We ain't gonna leave you kiddos. You're a part of this family." Martin promised, going to slump in the passenger seat as the others curled up in the back of the van. He was shivering a little from the cold, and he couldn't help worrying about the children - at least until he glanced back, and found a giant blue blanket had settled over all of them. A blanket that definitely hadn't been there a moment before.

As he smiled, a shred of blanket reached out towards him like a tentacle, settling across his chest and keeping him warm as well. It was easy to fall asleep, feeling safe and secure, surrounded by the only family that mattered.

***

The van turning on woke Martin up, snapping him from dreams of escape to the reality of it. He was still in the drivers seat, but the van had turned its own engine on, and was revving to itself. He opened his eyes, blinking in confusion, and it took him a moment to register where he was - that he wasn't back in Blackwing. The van growled beneath him, and he rested his hand on the wheel.

"Easy, girl..." He muttered, glancing around, and then doing up his seatbelt. The rest were still deeply asleep, and he didn't want to wake them, but he put his foot on the accelerator.

The van sprung forwards, seeming to know itself where to go as they hurried down the smaller endless roads towards the highway. The first few turnings passed without incident, until he caught sight of distant sirens, the black vans that matched the one they were in.

Blackwing was closing in.

"You better not be telling them where we are." He told the van, pressing down harder with his foot. The van sped up faster and faster, seeming to want to put the maximum amount of space between where they were, and where Blackwing was.

Cross woke up, cursing and untangling himself from the pile of limbs before he crawled into the passenger seat.  
"I got a bad feelin' about this."

"They better have the bad feeling." Martin muttered, turning a corner and hissing as he realised that ahead of him was a roadblock. He snarled, refusing to stop and be trapped, refusing to surrender. He spun his hands on the wheel, the van veering up onto two wheels as it skidded round, and then he drove straight towards the Blackwing vehicles. The van around him growled its approval as they went face on with the lead truck. 

At the last moment, the Blackwing truck swerved, sliding off the road. Martin sped through the gap, glad that their van seemed to _want_ them to escape. He patted the steering wheel, muttering praise under his breath, as in the back the children began to wake up.

He hurried onto the highway, driving on a mixture of instinct and faith that the van at least knew what they were doing.

It was a relief, having that van's support and he found himself patting it again as the kids emerged from under the blanket (or from being the blanket, in the case of Mona, who was definitely a very strange little child). 

Martin looked at them and sighed.  
"We got to get you all new clothes."

Dirk considered, tilting his head.  
"Oh, well, if we turn left on the next road we can get some? Please?"

Martin hesitated, but decided that what the hell, he might as well give it a go. So he turned left.

"You climb through kid, if you want to call out directions."

There was a pause before he did it, wriggling his way over the seat back to clamber into Cross's lap, calling out directions quietly.

Martin followed them all the time the van seemed happy to go that way, not entirely sure that the kid was doing anything, but knowing that they had no idea where they were going anyway, so they might as well have let the kids choose where to go.

"What is it you do?" He asked as Dirk insisted he take the fourth right turn in a row, which was definitely meaning they were facing back in the same direction they had been beforehand.

"I don't... know. Exactly. I can just sense things. Where things are meant to be." The boy answered. 

As answers went, it was slightly less disconcerting than 'I can feel when people need to die', but only just. Still, if that was the best answer that the boy could give, Martin supposed they'd have to live with it.

Cross reached out and patted his arm.  
"We gotta talk with you later."

Martin nodded, just as Dirk raised a hand.  
"Can we stop?"

"Sure. You need to go to the bathroom?" He asked. There was nothing else around other than a few low bushes, and they were still far enough out from town that no one would bother them. It was strange - they had passed through a couple of places, but Dirk had sounded so determined about where they were going that Martin hadn't bothered arguing.

"No." Dirk said firmly. "Just need you to stop."

"Whatever, kiddo." Martin pushed the breaks, stopping the van and Cross opened the side door. They were in the middle of nowhere. 

That didn't stop Dirk walking straight over to a nearby bush, and looking beneath it. He groaned quietly, and then turned and looked in the one beside it.

"Dirk?" Martin asked, raising an eyebrow, before turning to the kids.

"Why don't you all go out to help him?"

Whatever it was, it'd be good to let the children stretch their legs. Vogel and Bart tumbled from the van, Mona clutched in Bart's hand as the kind of plastic spade you'd get at the beach. Martin watched them prodding at bushes, as Cross leaned against his side, and Gripps peered over from the back of the van to wrap an arm around Martin's shoulder.

"We ain't leaving them," Cross said determinedly. "They're our kids now, same as Vogel."

"All four of them. Four hundred percent increase in amount of children." Gripps agreed, and Martin nodded.

"We won't let anyone take them away." Martin growled. "Our kids."

"Our kids," the other two echoed, and it was that simple. Sure, it wasn't easy. It hadn't been easy to keep Vogel safe, and it weren't going to get any easier now there was more of them.

But the alternative couldn't be thought about. These four were their babies, their family. Martin'd rip apart anyone who said different.

He looked out of the window again, just in time to see Vogel dragging a cardboard box from under a bush a short distance away. Dirk waved at the van, calling them over, and after a moment's hesitation he got out and walked over.

Once they arrived, Vogel tore the box open, bouncing from foot to foot in childish delight.

There were clothes inside. Enough for each of them. Perfect sizes, hell, perfect styles. There was even a rucksack that Dirk said could be used to carry Mona. Everything they needed. Just in a box, in the middle of nowhere.

He stared at Dirk.  
"What the hell?"

Dirk shrugged wordlessly.  
"I thought we might find something interesting. It seemed like it would be worth looking, and we did, so-... I'm sorry." He ducked his head. "I just... I can find things. Sometimes. Please don't get mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you," Martin promised. He was confused, disoriented, and even a little frightened, but he wasn't mad at Dirk, it wasn't his fault he was weird. "Come on, lets get changed. Then we can get rid of these jumpsuits."

Dirk nodded, and they went back to the van, pulling on new clothing, relishing in their comparative freedom. This was weird. But Martin was weird. They were all weird, and if Dirk was weird too, that just meant he fitted in with the rest of them, part of the family.

Setting fire to the jumpsuits made Martin grin. He watched as the flames consumed the hated fabric, before he piled everyone back into the van, patting her on the side as they drove away.

He wanted to put more distance between them and Blackwing, see how far he could get them before night fell again.

He paused as they approached an out of town toystore. It was stupid. They didn't have money, and they didn't have time, but he wanted the kids to have something nice. He paused, glancing in the mirror.  
"Mona?"

"Yes?" She asked, becoming human again.

"Do you think you could be a bank card?" he asked, and set out his plan. He'd be able to try it at least, see if she could get them what they needed. He didn't know if it'd work, but it felt worth a try.

***

It worked. That evening he watched as the kids ate the fast food they'd bought using Mona, playing with new toys selected by Vogel and the rest, all still in the clothes Dirk had found. It was strange. 

Dirk kept glancing over at him, worry in his eyes.  
"What's wrong, kid?"

"I just... what if..." Dirk shrugged. "What if you get hungry again?"

"We aren't gonna feed on you, not any more. You guys are safe now, you're part of this."

Vogel nodded, walking over and giving Dirk a big cuddle, the kind that helped him to relax.  
"You know, Dirk?"

"Yes?" Dirk asked, looking a little uncomfortable.

"You're a Rowdy, right? Rowdies support each other, don't they Martin?"

Martin looked at his little family, all sat together by the van that had saved them, and he nodded.  
"Yeah. Rowdies look after each other. All of us."


End file.
